Promoting good mental health in boarding schools
Dr Felicia Kirk Headmistress, St Mary’s Calne Times have changed across
environment today is positive for the mental
know the children in loco parentis and,
society – very much for the
health of both girls and boys.
between them, they have a huge range of
better – when it comes to talking
experience of the problems they can face. What do we mean by ‘mental health’ though?
We also have nurses on hand day and
Some conditions clearly qualify – such as
night, school counsellors, and direct access
clinical depression, anorexia and other forms
to other mental health practitioners. Many
of self-harm – but should we also include,
boarding schools, including St Mary’s Calne,
for example, feelings of homesickness that
also offer bespoke wellbeing programmes
many children have in the early stages of
covering many areas such as emotional
their time at boarding school (and not just in
health, positive relationships, social media,
the first term, by the way), or anxiety about
mindfulness, self-esteem and resilience.
with challenges that would once
exams? The lines are not easy to draw and
At St Mary’s, the wellbeing programme
have made working life almost
indeed it’s possible for bigger problems to
is supplemented by a series of talks and
impossible.
develop from something that could have
workshops. All in all, if there is a problem,
been dealt with sooner, or for a superficial
it’s hard to imagine that a child would
worry to mask a deeper one. But it’s also
have better access to help in another
Nevertheless, there is still reluctance to
important not to ‘medicalise’ feelings that
environment.
talk about mental health issues (or special
are entirely natural when a girl or boy is
efforts would not be needed) and it would
experiencing them for the first time.
about mental health issues. No serious employer, the Services included, is without a programme to encourage employees to be open about their experiences, and there are many great examples of individuals dealing successfully
Where boarding schools can make the difference for most of our students,
be surprising if school leaders – especially leaders of girls’ schools – weren’t also
Ultimately the best approach is a balanced
however, is in the day-to-day lifestyle that we
reluctant. National statistics show that girls
one. Achieving that is easier said than done
offer before anything goes wrong. We work
are somewhat more likely to have mental
of course but, in my experience, this is
hard to establish a culture across the school
health problems than boys. It would be easy
where boarding schools can really help.
that maximises the chances of identifying problems but also minimises the chances
to jump to the conclusion that these must be worse when children are away from home and feeling a lot of pressure to do well inside and outside the classroom. Happily this is just not the case. In practice there are many reasons why a good boarding school
WELLBEING PROGRAMMES First, all our staff are trained to consider these issues and to spot when something might be going wrong. Housemasters and mistresses in particular really get to
of them arising. As I said earlier, some of the feelings pupils have are just part of normal life and being in a supportive and understanding environment will be enough to get them through them.
